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The mosaic was discovered during the excavation
of a building from the Byzantine period - some 300 years younger
than the mosaic it was on top of - in the coastal city of
Caesarea.
"The surprise was actually that we found two beautiful monuments
from the glorious days of Caesarea," Peter Gendelman,
co-director of excavation for the Israel Antiquities Authority,
told Reuters of the building and mosaic.
Caesarea was a vibrant Roman metropolis built in honor of
Emperor Augustus Caesar by King Herod, who ruled Judea from 37
BC until his death in 4 BC.
The excavated portion of the mosaic, which the antiquities
authority said was 3.5 meters by 8 meters in size, depicts three
toga-clad men, as well as geometric patterns and an inscription
in Greek, which is damaged.
If the mosaic came from a mansion, the figures could have been
the owners, or if it was a public building, they may have been
the mosaic's donors or members of the city council, Gendelman
said.
The mosaic was of a high artistic standard, with about 12,000
stones per square meter, the antiquities authority said.
Israel is undertaking the largest conservation and
reconstruction project in the country in the Caesarea National
Park, the antiquities team said. The project aims to reconstruct
a Crusaders-era bridge.
(Reporting by Rami Amichai; Writing by Mark Hanrahan in London;
Editing by Alison Williams)
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